world of men's style / fashion / grooming

An UrbanDaddy Publication

03/18/2008

Something Fishy

Sao Paulo is well on its way to churning out Tokyo-esque levels of brightly colored indie trinketry. This latest—a pencil-holder, in case you hadn’t guessed—is from Buia, a Japanese-Brazilian designer with a knack for transferring cartoonish designs onto ceramics.

Other pieces include a bulldog ashtray and a various ink work, but this fish-mouthed piece caught our eye. Buia is upfront with the Japanese influence—especially with the thick pen lines that make it look like something you might find at AC Gears—but this is porcelain, not plastic, and it’s better thought through than you might think. The inside shows a hook—complete with worm—dangling down the fish’s throat, giving the cartoonish design a story to go with it. It’s a long way from Bauhaus, but Buia isn’t that far from putting together a design language of his own.